Screen for garment press



March 4, 1969 c. R. BOSS SCREEN FOR GARMENT PRESS Filed July 19, 1967 f We iw e 2 w w a 1 mwi a a v4 M A "my w; A. 4 A: y. a we H #2 m .m e VT 5 m 1 i F m United States Patent 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pressing screen for the upper buck or head of a steam-type garment press, comprised generally of a number of layers of different types of sheet materials secured together at their peripheral edges, in which the layer closest to the press head is of woven wire cloth of sufficiently open weave to pass steaim through it with very little resistance and Without diffusing it, but which is sufficiently stiff and rigid so as to provide a skeletal support for the remainder of the pressing screen, i.e., the additional layers positioned outwardly of the woven wire cloth. In one embodiment of the present device, the various layers are secured together by a fabric binding which passes around their coterminous peripheral edges and which is secured thereto by machine stitching or the like. Particularly in this embodiment, the open-mesh woven wire inner member should be bendable under normal manually exerted forces, such that this type of device may be secured to the upper buck of a garment press by placing the pressing screen thereagainst and bending the edge portions of the woven Wire inner member around the edges of the upper buck, crimping the woven wire member in place and making the pressing screen self-retaining.

Background Pressing screens for steam-type garment presses have long been in use. Such pressing screens primarily serve to provide a soft and at least somewhat resilient fabric covering for the upper or movable buck of such presses, and also to diffuse or spread the steam emitted from the head or buck of the press over the entire pressing surface as uniformly as possible, to thereby optimize the beneficial results provided by the steam.

Generally speaking, previous pressing screens or pads utilized the innermost layer or member (i.e., that portion closest to the surface of the upper buck when installed for use thereupon) as the primary steam-diffusing member, whereas the outermost member was ordinarily of one or another type of soft fabric whose function was primarily to make contact with the garment being pressed without undue harshness. Most such pressing screen constructions utilized very fine copper or brass screen as the steam-diffusing element, since extremely fine screen operates very satisfactorily as a diffuser; on the other hand, screen which is so fine as to be a satisfactory diffuser must of necessity be made of such fine wire that the screen has no structural rigidity of its own, and on the contrary is completely flexible and supple.

Consequently, prior fabric pressing screen constructions utilizing a fine mesh steam diffuser have characteristically been relatively limp and highly flexible in nature, and this attribute has given rise to problems and difficulty. That is, the fabric used in such pressing screens, and any of various padding materials frequently encountered, is subject to considerable shrinkage under the heat encountered, in operation, and limp, flexible devices offer no structural rigidity to withstand the forces of this shrinkage. As a result, such pressing screens would warp, shrink and deform in actual use, and this adversely affected their performance to a very considerable degree. Further, such pressing screens were very susceptible to damage, both during storage and shipping, and this was a constant source of economic loss to manufacturers and suppliers.

As a result of the aforementioned problems, some pressing screens began to be made with a sheet metal backing member which, in order to act as a satisfactory steam-diffuser, was perforated or lanced with a very large number of small openings over its entire surface, at least sufficiently to allow steam to pass through the member but not so severely as to weaken it and prevent it from acting as a generally rigid structural support, and also not so severely as to eliminate the resistance to the passage of steam which is required of a steam-diffusing member.

Almost in all such cases, the final product was attached to the pressing machine buck by means of coil tension springs spanning the back of the pressing screen, which could be hooked onto or entrained over and about the rear surface of the press head or buck, in a resilient sling-like manner. Also, the various layers making up such pressing screens were secured together in numerous ways, but most usually by a peripheral frame member, often a metal channel, which interconnected all of the layers by squeezing their edges together. Because of this type of construction and the manner in which such screens were typically mounted to the upper :buck, and also because such upper bucks come in numerous different specific sizes and at least slightly different shapes, a very great number of different sizes and shapes of pressing screens is required to be manufactured, dis tributed and stored in order to supply all needs. This naturally presents a very significant and costly burden to manufacturers, distributors, and retailers alike.

Summary of the invention In accordance with the present invention, a fabric pressing screen is provided having an unusual construction compared to prior art devices and providing new and different operational characteristics which effectively resolve problems which heretofore have constantly been present.

The pressing screen of the present invention incorporates an open-mesh woven wire cloth element as its component element which is positioned adjacent the pressing machine buck itself. Unlike previous mesh inner members, the present one does not serve as a steamdiffuser, and instead readily allows the steam to pass through it with substantially no resistance at all. The primary function of this inner member is to serve as a lightweight but strong skeletal support for the remainder of the pressing screen, to resist the shrinkage forces exerted on the screen in usage. Accordingly, the wire of which this member is comprised is generally stiff and relatively rigid in nature, and of larger diameter than that of prior structures, so that the cloth woven therefrom is not only self-supportive but is also strong enough to support the remainder of the pressing screen, which includes a generally closed-mesh outermost member, preferably made of slick-surfaced nylon fabric, which acts both as a steam-diffuser and as a gentle or soft surface for direct contact with articles being pressed. Since the various elements making up the present pressing screen are themselves light in weight, the resulting pressing screen has a lightweight nonbulky construction which is extremely easy to handle and use, and which is generally rigid, very strong, and structurally sound.

Further, the present invention provides as one of its preferred embodiments a pressing screen construction of the foregoing nature in which a peripheral binding, preferably of a strong textile fabric, secures the various layers of the screen together. In this construction, the size and shape of the pressing screen need not conform precisely to the dimensions of a given press head because the pressing screen provided becomes somewhat universal, capable of fitting numerous different upper press heads or bucks, since the woven wire inner member in the pressing screen is bendable under manual forces, and since there is no rigid peripheral metal frame, the peripheral edges of the pressing screen may be manually crimped around the edges of the press head, to thereby fit the screen to a particular head while simultaneously serving as the attachment therebetween.

Structural features of the invention and its complete nature will become increasingly apparent following a consideration of the ensuing specification and its appended claims, in which the invention is defined, particularly when taken in conjunction with the accompanying illustrative drawings setting forth a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Drawings FIG. 1 is an overhead plan view showing the general shape and nature of a pressing screen according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevation taken through the plane II-II of FIG. 1, showing details of construction;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a portion of the structure of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional elevation similar to FIG. 2, but showing an alternative embodiment of the concept involved.

First preferred embodiment In FIGS. 1 and 2, the pressing screen of the invention will be seen to basically comprise an elongated oblate structure of a characteristic shape which corresponds to that of the upper head or buck of a steam-type garment press. The overall pressing screen has a peripheral frame or binding 12, to which a series of light tension springs 14 may be secured, preferably in the arrangement shown, by which the construction is mounted upon the buck of the garment press, in a manner whose general nature is known.

In accordance with the present invention, the body or central portion of the pressing screen construction 10 is formed of a series of juxtaposed or layered sheet-like members. The innermost such member, designated 16, which is placed directly adjacent the buck of the garment press, is comprised of a relatively coarse or openmesh woven wire cloth. It is important to the invention that this member be of a very open or large-mesh nature, since it does not act as a steam-diffuser but instead serves the entirely different function of a structural support for the entire screen construction.

Accordingly, member 16 is preferably of strong and relatively stiff steel wire of a diameter nominally in the range of from .017 to .035 inch. This wire is woven together and the joints or points of intersection are soldered after weaving, preferably by hot-dipping the woven wire, by a galvanizing process known in the art; thus, the woven wire member 16 not only has rigid joints, but also is coated with a protective metal, so that it is better able to resist the corrosive effects of the steam used in pressing operations. This type of construction is shown in FIG. 3, where a pair of individual wires 16a and 16b are shown intersecting, and the intersection is secured by solder fillets 160, which form a rigid joint out of the crossing wires. The soldering of the mesh member 16 greatly augments its structural rigidity, as will readily be understood, and it helps the single open-mesh member to better act as a support for the entire screen construction. As stated, the woven steel wire member 16 is to be very substantially open in character, and typically is of a mesh size which is only two to eight mesh, i.e., two to eight openings per lineal inch. This is to be contrasted with mesh screens used as steam diffusers, which. use thin, flexible copper wire of a diameter in the neighborhood of .009 inch, woven into a screen of some forty to fifty mesh, or even finer. The former is approximately seventy-five percent open and presents little resistance to the passage of steam therethrough, whereas the latter is only about twenty-five percent open, and presents a very significant amount of resistance to steam, which is why it diffuses steam well.

Immediately outwardly of the woven wire cloth layer 16 is a layer of asbestos cloth 18, followed by a layer of relatively heavy or thick and softly resilient nylon fleece or flannel 20, which can be either single-faced or needlepunched. Finally, an outer layer 22 is provided which is preferably a smooth-filament or slick nylon cloth.

As stated, the structurally supportive layer of woven Wire cloth 16 does essentially nothing to diffuse the steam passing from the head or buck of the press downwardly through the pressing screen 10. This function is accomplished in the present construction 10 by asbestos layer 18, the nylon flannel 20, and the slick nylon outer layer 22, particularly the latter. It has been found that the steam diffusion so provided is eminently satisfactory for the purpose required, and indeed gives very excellent results. The layer of asbestos cloth 18 isolates the flannel or fleece 20 from the woven wire cloth 16, which naturally becomes extremely hot during operation of the garment press, due to the steam flowing directly through the Wire cloth. In accordance with the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the peripheral frame 12 is of a suitably formable metal, such as aluminum.

In FIG. 4, a novel and and very advantageous alternative embodiment of the invention is shown. Here, the screen construction is comprised of the same supportive woven wire cloth 16 as noted hereinabove in connection with FIG. 2, and the other layers of the screen 110 similarly may be and preferably are a similar layer of asbestos cloth 18, a layer of nylon fleece or flannel 20, and an outer layer 22 of smooth-filament or slick nylon cloth. However, in accordance with this construction the peripheral frame 112 is not of metal or of any other relatively rigid material; instead, the frame 112 is a flexible binding of fabric or the like, which is held in place by machine-stitching through both sides of the binding and through the various layers of the pressing screen located therebetween. Such a construction has been found to be surprisingly strong from a structural point of view, and it has some extremely advantageous attributes.

For example, with a woven wire inner member 16 of the type already described, and with the readily flexible fabrictype peripheral binding 112, the pressing screen 110 of FIG. 4 takes on a universal character, since it may be mounted to a variety of differing press heads or bucks having dimensions or shapes which vary from one another and which would therefore require different specific sizes of pressing screens having a rigid peripheral frame of metal or the like. This universal fitting is accomplished merely by bending the edge portions of the pressing screen 110 upwardly around the edges of the press head or buck 24, in the manner shown in FIG. 4. The stiffness and character of the woven wire inner member 16, along with the flexible fabric binding 112, permits such bending in the first place, and by such bending the woven wire member 16 may in effect he crimped into place around the edges of the press head 24, in which position the woven wire member will remain indefinitely, to securely retain the pressing screen in place. With the type of woven wire cloth indicated previously, i.e., steel wire of a diameter in the range of from .017 to .035 inch, Woven into a mesh cloth having from about two to eight wires per inch, this manual bending is readily accomplished and, once accomplished, provides a very adequately secured retention of the pressing screen.

In accordance with the present invention, a unique new form of pressing screen is provided which, while superficially resembling previous types of screens by having a layered construction with a wire mesh inner layer, is nevertheless different in certain fundamentally important particulars and which as a result of such difference provides unique and desirable features never before available in this type of device. Although extremely light and easy to handle, the present pressing screen has considerable structural rigidity, with the woven wire cloth inner member firmly supporting all of the remaining layers making up the total structure of the screen. In fact, the support provided for the fabric layers is so sufiicient that substantially no drooping thereof can be observed during actual usage of the screen. Further, although performing very well as compared to previous types of pressing screens and having the srtuctural rigidity just noted, the pressing screen of the invention provides truly surprising manufacturing economies, and can be made with far less expense than previous devices with close-mesh steam-diffusing screens.

It is entirely conceivable that upon examining the foregoing disclosure, those skilled in the art may devise embodiments of the concept involved which differ somewhat from the embodiment shown and described herein, or may make various changes in structural details to the present embodiment. Consequently, all such changed embodiments or variations in structure as utilize the concepts of the invention and clearly incorporate the spirit thereof are to be considered as within the scope of the claims appended herebelow, unless these claims by their language specifically state otherwise.

I claim:

1. A fabric pressing screen for use on the upper buck of a steam-type garment press, comprising in combination: a first sheet-like member forming an inner layer, for placement directly adjacent said buck; at least one additional sheet-like member juxtaposed to said first such member outwardly thereof, on the side thereof opposite said buck; and means for retaining said members in mutual juxtaposition; said first member comprised of woven wire cloth of sufiiciently open weave as to pass steam directly therethrough without any substantial diffusion; the woven wires of said cloth being secured together at points of mutual intersection, to augment the structural rigidity of the cloth; and wire forming said cloth being generally stiif, such that said cloth has sufficient structural rigidity to provide a skeletal support for said additional members positioned outwardly thereof.

2. The fabric pressing screen of claim 1, wherein said Woven wire cloth is formed of steel wire.

3. The fabric pressing screen of claim 2, wherein said woven wire cloth is galvanized.

4. A fabric pressing screen for use on the upper buck of a steam-type garment press, comprising in combination; a first sheet-like member forming an inner layer, for placement directly adjacent said buck; at least one additional sheet-like member juxtaposed to said first such member outwardly thereof, on the side thereof opposite said buck; and means for retaining said members in mutual juxtaposition; said first member comprised of woven Wire cloth of sufficiently open weave as to pass steam directly therethrough without any substantial diffusion; said wire forming said cloth being generally stiff, such that said cloth has suflicient structural rigidity to provide a skeletal support for said additional members positioned outwardly thereof; and said woven wire member having manually bendable portions at its periphery for forming attachment flanges by which the screen may be mounted upon such upper buck.

5. The fabric pressing screen of claim 4, including a readily flexible peripheral binding around the edges of said woven wire member and said additional member, said binding bridging the edges of said members and interconnecting the same.

6. The fabric pressing screen of claim 5, wherein said peripheral binding comprises a fabric member machinestitched in place.

7. The fabric pressing screen of claim 4, wherein said bendable portions at the periphery of said woven wire member comprise the edge extremities of such member.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,382,141 8/1945 Dawson et al. 3866 2,807,895 10/1957 Hicks 38-66 3,181,259 5/1965 Petrasch 38-66 3,323,238 1/1967 Cohen 3866 3,341,954 9/1967 Davis et al. 38-66 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

